Disney and the Church

And yes, it’s about the news that Disney’s new version of The Beauty and The Beast will have a gay character.

Here’s my opinion whether Disney should or should not do it.

Disney is a private company. It has that right to do whatever it wants. It is not a Christian organization – it is a business.

Please understand what I am not saying. I’m not saying that I approve of sin being flaunted in kid’s movies. I’m not saying that I will allow my four-year-old daughter to watch questionable films.

What I am saying is the reality of the situation: Disney (and you can add others, like Target, Apple, etc.) has the right to do anything legal in its privately held business.

However, those businesses also have to understand that I, and others, have the right to reject your product. Don’t nod your head in agreement to the previous paragraphs and then cry “Bigotry! Homophobia!” and the like when consumers say, “No thank you!” It’s called free market capitalism. As a good friend of mine says, “Just sayin’.”

We also have to realize that the world will act like…well…the world. So why do we act surprised when companies decide to do things that are against God? We were once like that too, before Christ.

With that out of the way, here are my words to a Church that has lost its influence in Western culture and will continue to lose in the next few years. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe our sovereign God is allowing this perversity in the entertainment industry to force us away from the screen and into the closet of prayer? Is God allowing Satan to increase his influence so that we can snap out of the siren call of TV, the Internet, and countless movies, and heed the call of the Holy Spirit to have intimacy with Jesus?

Or here’s another perspective (which I owe to my wife): it’s interesting that we’re freaking out about a gay character in a movie, but don’t flinch at scenes of gratuitous violence, women wearing skimpy clothing (or nothing at all), adultery, or romps in the bedroom by heterosexual couples who aren’t married. I’m not talking about violence et al that is part of a movie revealing its horribleness and showing true evil (think Schindler’s List). I’m talking about wickedness that is portrayed as normal or fun.

Ron Auch, a Pentecostal author, puts it this way (keep in mind the edition I have is from 1991 and it deals mostly with television since the internet was just getting started):

Do you really believe God wants us to spend our time cleaning up society through political reform? What about our own hearts?…Does God really wants us to clean up television programming? Just consider how much time “Christians” waste in front of their TV sets watching worldly filth, while at the same time they claim they haven’t enough time to pray as they ought. How much more would they watch television [or movies for that matter] if it offered more wholesome viewing? Prayer would be cast right out of the window if television was morally upright.[1]

Realize what I am not saying: a total abstinence of television, movies, or the Internet. But what I am saying is that maybe God is allowing evil to corrode all forms of entertainment in the hope that it will show that something is wrong with us and that we need to change.

At the time of writing, I have just completed a physical. At 47 my body is not working as it should (no thanks to Adam and Eve) and therefore need regular check-ups.

The good news is that I’m in good health – except for one thing: my cholesterol is a little high. My blood report shows that the bad cholesterol is high and the good cholesterol is not high enough. To reverse the numbers, I need to eat more fruits and vegetables, more fish, and less red meat, peanuts, and cheese (I nearly wept at the restriction of cheese). Plus, I need to exercise more often. My doctor assured me that following her recommendations should bring my cholesterol numbers to a more healthy reading.

The Church has also seen its health numbers: its spending too much time in front of a screen and making excuses for the filth. And God has given us the path back to spiritual health:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.[2]